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    Saturday, February 17, 2007

    Misguided Feminists: This is an old, old story by blogosphere standards, but the dust-up over John Edwards' female bloggers is fascinating in a train-wreck sort of way. It's a microcosm of our culture wars- victims on the right, victims on the left. But the saddest aspect is the poor state of discourse that apparently passes for feminist thought in those young female brains.

    The bloggers biggest liability to the Edwards campaign wasn't so much their ideas, as the way they expressed them. They are unable to communicate above a locker room level- a teenage male locker room level, that is. (At least one of the bloggers seems to realize that language counts, but the other is hopeless. On first reading this apologia, at Salon, one may be forgiven for thinking that yes, she can write without swearing, but it only takes seven paragraphs to lapse:

    A few days after my announcement, another in a series of inept s*
    **tstorms in the right-wing blogosphere came to my attention.


    Whatever.

    Perhaps she has just had a bad upbringing and doesn't know how to rise above the vulgar. But, as a woman who works in a once male-dominated field, let me give you young women some advise. The women of the '60's and '70's didn't do the hard work and sacrifice so you could act like the worst of men. The feminist movement was not a Rake's Progress for women. If you want to speak publicly for the women, then learn to argue with reason. If you want to win the hearts and minds of the people, you must first earn their respect. And no one respects vulgar, trashy minds.
     

    posted by Sydney on 2/17/2007 07:16:00 AM 6 comments

    6 Comments:

    For years I was the only woman in the surgeon's lounge. They all said they had to quit swearing, scratching and passing gas (with gusto) while I was around.

    Here's what I have learned swimming upstream for years-
    -Humor is your best friend.
    -If someone is being a sexist jerk, call them on it. The more wit and humor, the better.
    -Don't whine.
    -Be a lady. Everyone respects that, no matter where you are or what you do.
    -Don't operate in high heels- even bare feet are better. IF you put several pairs of shoe covers on, no one will know.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:12 AM  

    Using vulgar language does not require a bad upbringing. You make the craziest assumptions.

    Most of the 'young' women and men I know use language like that. You can dislike it all you want but it doesn't change the fact that Amanda is correct in saying that she speaks in the vernacular of her audience.

    I mean, really, you are objecting to the word 'shitstorm'. Why is that a bad word? WTF?

    I just don't understand this hangup to many people have over language.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:33 PM  

    My handicapped lawyer wife went to law school in the 70's and tolerated abuse both n school and then when looking for a job. Given "women's" work she has risen to become one of the top five legal experts in her field in the US.

    What is shocking is her treatment by women. Younger women treat her as a stumbling block to their careers. In social settings women exhibit the very worse of behaviors. I find it difficult to take seriously a 30 year old professional woman with a belly button ring who is quite up front about playing the "girl" card to get what they want, often a free drink.

    While it is great that young women feel free to express themselves and do not question their right to equal opportunities, this is no reason to revert to the most base behavior.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:55 PM  

    Marcotte's language isn't the problem; instead, it is her anti-religious rhetoric that got her into hot water.

    It wouldn't even matter if she used the best language if her thoughts are gutter-level bigotry.

    By Blogger OTE admin, at 1:19 PM  

    "Using vulgar language does not require a bad upbringing. You make the craziest assumptions."

    QED.

    Stella Baskomb

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:09 PM  

    "shitstorm" was the mildest of Amanda's phrases. Sydney just doesn't want to disgrace her blog with the rest of it. Further, the language was used in conjunction with some of the most sacred (literally) topics imaginable. If she'd been discussing the latest porno flick, it would not be nearly as big a deal as it was.

    Few of the young men and women I know talk like Amanda. Having a teenager, one would think I would hear it, but I don't. Amanda may be speaking in the vernacular of her audience- however, to think that vernacular is either mainstream or acceptable to everyone else is an error.

    Now, it's possible that my teenagers are just editing their language for my benefit, but if so, that just shows they're smarter than Amanda.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:23 PM  

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